Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Shark!

Last night I attended Mahiki Invasion at UnderTow, Phoenix’s new tiki bar that is attempting to resurrect classic tiki bar culture.  It was pretty damn great.  And not just because they started plying us with rum as soon as we entered the door (the three drinks were the Mahiki Bar London’s take on the classic Don the Beachcomber cocktails “Missionary’s Downfall”, “Navy Grog”, and something served in a coconut).  There are a lot worse ways to spend a Thursday night.

The Grog O’Clock and [coconut something]
Mahiki is a tiki bar in London that is bring back classic tiki drinks (think Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic), but giving a modern polish on it – owner/mixologist Georgi Radev described the process as trying to recreate the drinks with modern ingredients, because the difference between something as simple as an orange then, and an orange now, makes all the difference in the world.   You can bet your ass when I’m in London (or Dubai – hey, the World Cup’s going to be just a stone’s throw away in Qatar in 2022), I’ll be stopping in for a drink.

I’m a bit of a tiki aficionado myself.  In fact, I’ve amassed such a collection of glasses, I now have to rotate the collection because it gets too cluttered otherwise.  My current displayed collection is an assortment of sea creatures and monsters, plus the mugs of the South Sea gods tiki culture appreciates (or appropriates – your mileage may vary).

I’m assuming my upcoming trip to Fiji will be EXACTLY like this.

In honor of the 2014 and 2015 (well, really just 2015 – 2014 had it’s…  challenges*) expeditions to Isla Guadalupe to study** great white sharks, I created a tiki drink in honor of La Lupita and her sharks.  I’m going to post a picture of the finished product later today (I’ll update this post), but in the meantime, if I talked to you yesterday at UnderTow, here’s the recipe (and a bonus shark video).

Blue Guadalupe

1 1/2 oz   1800 Coconut Tequila
1 oz           Vanilla Vodka
2 1/2 oz   pineapple juice
1/2 oz       lime juice
1/2 oz       passion fruit syrup
splash     Blue Curacao

Add ingredients to shaker full of cubed ice.  Shake vigorously, like you’ve caught a Northern Elephant Seal.

Strain into tall glass full of crushed ice.  Add splash of club soda.  Garnish with a speared cherry (I use moonshine cherries) and pineapple wedge.

If you’d like to help fund further shark conservation and research, check out my GoFundMe! All profits are donated to Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation.

* – The Great Ensenada Diver Rebellion of 2014
** – By “study” I mean “gawk at, mouth agape like I was nine years old again”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *